Nikola Jokić Gets Livid At The Thunder After Taking A Cheap Shot From Lu Dort
The Thunder's Lu Dort fouled Jokić in dirty fashion, and the Nuggets' star was not happy about it.
If I played in the NBA, I would do everything in my power to not get on the bad side of Nikola Jokić.
First, I wouldn’t want to become Jokić's main target to humiliate. The Denver Nuggets forward has uncanny basketball skills and frequently embarrasses even the most skilled players in the game. I wouldn’t want to be the guy Jokić singles out to put to shame.
Then there's the obvious reason that he is 6’ 11" and 284 pounds. If we got in a fight, I would bend like a folding chair.
But that didn’t stop Oklahoma City Thunder forward Lu Dort from poking the proverbial bear last night, hip-checking Jokic when he didn’t expect it. That caused a benches-clearing brawl against two of the top-4 teams in the Western Conference.
There were dozens of people in that scrum who would have been ready to throw hands at any given moment. But let’s focus on Jokić's reaction for a second.
After winning the NBA Finals in 2023, Jokic received criticism for seemingly not caring all that much that he won it all. People started to wonder if he cared about winning, and to be fair, it does sometimes look like he’s on cruise control in the regular season.
But that doesn’t mean you want to try to get under his skin. I mean, just look at his reaction when Dort’s teammates tried to break up the fight.
That's spooky.
An angry Jokić is nightmare fuel for anyone in the NBA. Even when he’s half-engaged, he’ll put up a 20-10-7 game without breaking a sweat. Imagine what he can do when he’s fired up!
The Thunder are on a quest to repeat as champions. But they’ve just made themselves Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Jokić.
That won’t do anything to help their quest for a second title.